Music Sources at and via BU
BU Libraries Search covers all our physical audio collections and most of the contents of online sources, subscription or open access. Refine results to audio/video. Our physical collection includes CDs, tapes, and phonodiscs (primarily LPs).
For additional results and more refined searching, go directly to our streaming audio subscription databases.
- Naxos Music Library This link opens in a new window Usually known as just "Naxos," this is an audio streaming package of hundreds of classical music lables with very good indexing and search capabilities. It is a reliable destination for Early Music, lesser-known classics, and Contemporary Music. Folk, Blues, Jazz, Nostalgia, Chinese, and World in more limited quantities can be found here. The audio is streamed on demand, not downloaded.
- Music & Performing Arts (Audio & Video Collections) This link opens in a new window Music & Performing Arts' collections include American Music, Classical, Contemporary World, Jazz, Popular, Smithsonian's Global Sound, Ethnographic Sound Archives, American Film Scripts, Asian American Drama, Black Drama, North American Drama, and Theatre in Context. Search results include links to the full text of the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online (1997-2001), with additional audio examples.
Free Music Sources from Outside BU
- Europeana Collections: MusicMusic resources from European archives, broadcasters, museums, universities, research institutes and private collectors. Includes full recordings and short previews.
- Internet ArchiveA non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. More than 3 million audio items. Collections include the Grateful Dead and live music archives.
- Library of Congress: Performing Arts Digital Audio CollectionsFree and open access to sound recordings focused on but not limited to American folk music, including from specific ethnic groups. Other collections include Gerry Mulligan, John Philip Sousa, Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine, and recent concerts at the Library of Congress.
- Library of Congress: National JukeboxThe Library of Congress presents the National Jukebox, which makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge. Recordings in the Jukebox were issued on record labels now owned by Sony Music Entertainment, which has granted the Library of Congress a gratis license to stream acoustical recordings. At launch, the Jukebox includes more than 10,000 recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925. Jukebox content will be increased regularly, with additional Victor recordings and acoustically recorded titles made by other Sony-owned U.S. labels, including Columbia, OKeh, and others.
- Virtual Gramophone: Canadian Historical Sound RecordingsMultimedia website devoted to the early days of Canadian recorded sound, providing an overview of the 78-rpm era in Canada. The database contains information for 78-rpm and cylinder recordings released in Canada from 1900 to 1950, as well as foreign recordings featuring Canadian artists and/or compositions.
